


Though the rain falls

by zeest



Category: Samurai Warriors
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-28
Updated: 2011-02-28
Packaged: 2017-10-16 00:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/166422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeest/pseuds/zeest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Into each life, a little rain must fall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Though the rain falls

**Author's Note:**

> Actually fits with Toshiie's SW3Z ending :D Beta-ed by silverlined.

It had been raining the whole day, the sky a uniform gray as far as the eye could see, the rain falling unceasingly until the damp seemed to permeate into every nook and cranny of Ueda Castle. Keiji had gone out early that morning with his horse, Yukimura was told, and the sun had already set by the time he returned.

Yukimura walked along the familiar corridors to the guestroom Keiji was using, the steady drumming of the rain on the roofs drowning out his footsteps. The doors to the room were wide open and Keiji himself was inside, already changed into a dry casual robe. Keiji was running a comb through his unbound and still wet hair, pulling none too gently when the comb snagged on a tangle.

“Hey, come give me a hand,” Keiji said when he noticed Yukimura and tossed the comb over to him. It was made of lacquered wood and decorated with small, delicate flowers and beads. Yukimura wondered how Keiji had come to own an item he would have thought belonged to Kunoichi or Kai.

“Present from an old acquaintance,” Keiji said, as though he could read Yukimura’s thoughts. “Suits me, doesn’t it?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Yukimura said quickly. He knelt down behind Keiji, took up a thick lock of hair and began combing.

Keiji’s hair was coarse and wiry, and when bound together, almost as thick as Yukimura’s wrist. It was long, too; long enough to reach the floor when Keiji was sitting and tangled from the long and likely insanely fast ride Keiji had taken in the rain. Yukimura ran the comb slowly through the damp hair, gently teasing out the knots.

“It is raining so heavily today. Was there something so urgent that you could not wait for the rain to stop?” Yukimura asked.

“This rain’s nothing,” Keiji said, sighing in pleasure as the teeth of the comb grazed lightly across his scalp. “Sometimes I just want to ride somewhere, anywhere. Fight a bit, if I find someone good. No, I didn’t beat up anyone today,” Keiji added hastily as Yukimura balked and accidentally tugged too hard on a knot.

“I can spar with you if you are feeling restless,” Yukimura offered tentatively, deciding to ignore the ‘today’ for now. “I have to help my brother with administerial matters but I have time to spare.”

Yukimura could feel Keiji smiling at his words even as Keiji remained silent. He gathered up another thick lock of hair, running his fingers through the strands to take out the looser knots before applying the comb to them.

“I’m just a guy who loves to fight,” Keiji said suddenly. “I can’t do all the governing stuff Kanetsugu and Mitsunari are so good at, it’ll bore me to death, ya know? So I’ll just do what I can.” Keiji’s voice was uncharacteristically pensive and Yukimura remained silent, unsure of what to say.

“That old man was a good guy,” Yukimura’s hands stilled as he realised that Keiji was talking about Toshiie. “Everyone, the whole clan, they all loved him. They would lay their lives down for him. But he died. A year ago, on this day. And the Maeda, they’re all just Ieyasu’s pawns now.” Keiji threw his head back and barked a laugh, and Yukimura’s heart clenched at the bitterness and regret in Keiji’s voice.

Outside, the rain continued to pound on the roofs and the candle flames flickered in the strong wind.

“You once told me,” Yukimura said softly, “that even when the Takeda are gone, I must live on. Because-”

“Because one day you will find another reason to live,” Keiji said, quoting the line he had once said on the battlefield so many years ago. It had been raining that day too, and the blood had ran in rivulets from rapidly cooling bodies into the ground, where the crimson was almost indistinguishable from the mud.

Keiji chuckled, then turned to grin at Yukimura. “What if I told you I had no idea what I was talking about and I only said that because I thought you could give me a good fight if you survived?”

Yukimura stared at him, open-mouthed in surprise. Keiji laughed, warm and hearty, and ruffled Yukimura’s hair until it resembled a bird’s nest.

“Keiji!”

“Time to raid the kitchen! I’m starving.” While Yukimura was still frantically trying to straighten his hair back into some semblance of dignity, Keiji had already walked to the door. He turned back to look at Yukimura, eyes still lined in black and red, hair half-dried and spiked in all directions, his grin as cocksure as the day he introduced himself on the battlefield at Nagashino.

“Coming with me?”

Yukimura smiled despite himself and carefully placed the comb back in its case before rising.

“Another reason to live, huh?” Keiji glanced at Yukimura as they walked towards the kitchen, side-by-side. “I think we’ve found it, both you and I.”


End file.
